Is this a good way to start?

I think that it sounds great.  My children are 12, 11 (APD), 5, and 4.

For what it is worth, I have used Mod. 2 and the Famous Men of Greece.  I like it, but it was kind of hard to get how they all tied in together and in what part of Greek History and my kids weren’t that crazy about it. So I actually switched to The Story of Greece and use that as my spine, adding in Famous Men when appropriate.  It works much better for us since we know how the Famous Men fit into Greek history in a more coherent way.  Sonya has mentioned that she was re-writing another version of Mod 2, using The Story of the Greeks (very similar to The Story of Greece) and is available through Nothing New Press, if you want to use that.  Either option is good, just letting you know what we have experienced!

Also, my kiddos LOVE the “extras” that you mentioned, and look forward to them.  Since they are simple to implement, I’d recommend that you not wait too long to do it.  I found that it was a great way to help transition our school over. =)  It’s what made it “different”.

Kristen, I listed my kids ages on purpose when I read yours!  It’s fun to see that, plus it helps to know others in a similar situation’s experience.

The Famous Men of Greece is just that – a collection of stories of men of Greece who had influence over law or customs during the long life of ancient Greece.  I realized as we were trying to read it that I didn’t know enough about ancient Greece to be able to get a “feel” for an overall view of Greece.  Since I had just gotten the Yesterday’s Classics collection, I started reading a lot of the 35 Ancient Greece books in it.  I read both The Story of Greece and The Story of the Greeks and read up about how to study Ancient Greece on the Heritage History site. Both of the spines I just mentioned are comprehensive spines that take the readers from the beginnings of Greek civilization through the end when Rome dominates the scene.  You can read either of those books free on the mainlesson.com site or the Heritage History site.  You can also order the hard copies from Amazon, YC, or Nothing New Press.  The Famous Men stories are also available as audiobooks on Librivox.org.

Since I read The Story of Greece first, I decided to use it as the spine, adding in other YC books, the Famous Men, any Greek books we had, plus some art and architecture aspects, the Greek Gods and Godesses coloring book so the kiddos know who these gods are, Life in Ancient Greece coloring book, and lisitng all the applicable figures from the Homeschool in the Woods timeline figures for our BOC/timeline.  I have posted the plan on my blog along with any additional things I gathered to help make it more interesting for our kids. You can see it here: http://mysouldothdelight.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/the-story-of-greece-study-guide/

Basically, I plan to read one chapter per day, adding in the things that pertain to it.  In the guide I did list additional books to read.  I may not choose to do it all every time, but it is a decent list of what I have so we don’t forget something I do have and want to use. 😉   

Yes, the “extras” are nature, picture, composer, hymn, poetry studies – they are not really extras – they are the life of a CM education.  Other subjects can get repetitious, but these change often and add such an enriching level to the school. Usually, our burnout occurs when we are not doing these things regularly.  We call them ‘extras’ due to our PS backgrounds…sad, but true.  

You can still introduce some nature study in winter and the rest are just a matter of scheduling 5-10 minutes once a week.  I just decided things like Monday is Fairy Tale Day, Hymn Study. Tuesday is Picture Study, Nature Walk, Handicrafts, and Poetry.  Wednesday is Composer Study and Poetry. Thursday is Nature Study and Poetry.  Friday is Shakespeare, Creative Art, and math game.  Once you dedicate a day, follow through is so much easier!!  It might be different for your kids, so if they resist at first, don’t give up!